


Brave Enough to Love Me

by theLogLady



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Kara Danvers Has a Crush on Lena Luthor, Lena Luthor Doesn't Know Kara Danvers is Supergirl, Lena Luthor has a Crush on Supergirl, Protective Kara Danvers, Slow Burn Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Supergirl saves Lena's ass multiple times, and Lena starts to enjoy it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-08-26 14:04:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16683013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theLogLady/pseuds/theLogLady
Summary: Just a Supercorp slowburn beginning with Supergirl saving Lena's ass to carry her bridal style to a rooftop, where the two women talk and find out they're the exact opposite of enemies... and they probably already have a crush on each other.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!  
> Before you start reading, I'd like to let you know a few quick things:
> 
> 1\. In Chapter 1 there's a scene about an attempt of rape. The description is not particularly detailed, that's the reason why you haven't found it in the warnings, but I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings with my work so I figured out this was the best way to warn you all.  
> 2\. This is my first work on AO3, and English is not my first language so have mercy on me ;) feel free to let me know what you think!  
> 3\. I'm searching for a beta to help me out with the rest of this work, so if you're interested, hit me up on Tumblr @supercorp-will-rise !

Lena was trying not to think too much of what she was doing.

She was in a bar. With a man. If someone asked her how the hell she ended up in a bar in National City, hanging out with a man she barely remembers the name, she wouldn’t know the answer. She didn’t fucking know why.

She used to go to that bar when the urge of shut down her own thoughts was stronger than drinking a good glass of red wine on her comfy couch. That was one of those nights, and this is how she met him. He saw her and sit on the stool next to hers, without asking for permission, and they started talking.

Well, he started talking. Lena answered him back after a while, with her usual lack of interest written on her face, spreading around her all through the room, like she couldn’t care less of who he was and what he was saying. And it wasn’t just a façade, she really couldn’t care less.

She had more important things to do, more important things to pay attention to than an insignificant man in a dirty bar who apparently couldn’t shut up for a second. She’d regretted the choice of coming to this place from the second he sat next to her, ‘cause she knew exactly how it was going to go.

He was a lawyer who recently divorced from his wife after she found out he was cheating on her, and the only thing sadder than that was that, instead of trying to earn her trust and love again, there he was, two weeks after she kicked him out, hitting on a woman he didn’t even know (and considered him barely nothing).

Lena was suddenly hit by a wave of sadness, the same she had the purpose to keep away from her that night.

That’s the exact same thing that happens to her all the time. She falls in love with someone (someone she thinks deserves her love and trust) and then they just hurt her and left her wondering why she isn’t enough to stay, stay and fight for her.

Lena never found an answer to that question now stuck in her head, and the more this loop kept going, the more she took it for granted: she was _sure_ everyone was there to play with her feelings, take what they needed from her and then leave her just like that, and that was enough to build up a wall between her and the rest of the human kind. She didn't let people in, she knew it was dangerous, and useless. She was perfectly fine all by herself, running her family's company in her own way (Lena Luthor didn't know ways other than hers to do her job, obviously).

But deep inside her, Lena could still feel her heart aching for that question left unanswered. Then (a little encouraged by the alcohol) she had what in that moment seemed like a brilliant idea: she finally had the chance to ask someone _why_. And the sober version of her would have known for sure it was a bad idea, other than an incredibly useless one, because he was a stranger who cheated on his wife and decided it was easier to give up on their marriage instead of fight for it; he wasn’t her mother, he wasn’t Lex, he wasn’t the one she should ask that fucking question.

But tonight the drunk Lena wins over the other one, and there she was, leaving the bar with a stranger she doesn’t remember the name.

 -

Kara was _starving_.

She thought she’s going to pass out in that moment, and all her brain was able to think was _potstickers_. Her sister Alex always told her she was developing a sort of addiction, and with the years it became so obvious Kara didn’t even bother denying it by now.

She has been busy all day at CatCo, trying to write something decent for her article, unable to focus on something for more than half an hour without being interrupted. Days like this were exhausting for her, and the way Snapper treated her had started feeling like too much to handle right now, so she just decided to let it go for once. It was enough for the day.

Walking by the streets Kara could feel her stomach grumbling louder and louder, almost painfully begging for food. She could see the entrance of her favorite Chinese restaurant, and stopped right before the door for a minute to let a couple walk out, holding the door for them and smiling kindly. Her eyes wandered around absentmindedly, and that’s when she heard it.

_Let me go, please!_

Kara wasn’t sure what she heard was real. No one else seemed to have heard anything, so she was about to let it go when she heard it again.

_Get off me!_

It was the same voice, a strange accent she couldn’t really place right now. The woman had to be nearby, but apparently the only one who could hear that scream was Kara, with her powers. She stepped away from the door, running across the street to the dark alley right in front of the restaurant, half of her clothes already gone for her suit. 

-

Drunk Lena realizes she’s fucked up in the moment he comes closer, one hand on her cheek, leaning in and kissing her. He tastes like cheap beer, like emptiness, and Lena shivers in disgust when his other hand slides on her back, trying to pull her closer to him.

She doesn’t just want to pull back, she wants to _run_. Not just from him, but from herself, from this horrible mess her life was. 

_Let me go, please!_

His grip around her is stronger than she expected. She tries to push him away, putting a hand on his face to stop him from keep kissing her. The look he gives her right after is unforgettable: he has these dark eyes, looking at her without really _seeing_ her, like she’s not even real in front of him, like he’s not there, in this alley.

After a second, everything falls apart. He snaps, as if something has started burning furiously in him. He pushes Lena against the wall, holding her by the wrists with a hand while the other one slips under her dress, trying to take off her underwear.

_Get off me!_

When Lena feels his hand touching her, she reacts immediately, instinctively, knowing it was now or never. She can’t use her hands, but that’s not a real problem: she knees him the harder she can, on a very delicate spot. He goes down immediately, barely breathing, unable to move or get up but it's a matter of minutes. Lena runs away but she can hear him running after her, furiously mad for what she's done.

_“I swear I’m gonna kill you, you fucking whore!”_

Lena’s trying to find a way back to the main street, which should be hopefully less desert than this one, but running from a guy who’s tried to assault you and who’s pissed off on your heels is not that easy. She can feel his steps coming closer and closer to her in the dim light of the alley, when walking backwards she bumps into someone standing right behind her. Lena turns instinctively, already prepared to face the man she was running from, and freezes at the sight of Supergirl, her green eyes widened in disbelief.

Kara gestures her to be quiet, then quickly lifts her up, one arm under Lena’s knees and the other behind her back to hold her tighter.

_“Hope you don’t have fear of heights, Miss Luthor.”_


	2. Chapter 2

Supergirl flew up and landed on a building's roof, she put Lena down to stand on her own feet, keeping a hand on her back to be sure she was okay.

Lena’s shaking, her heart is pounding so fast in her chest even without a superhearing it could be heard. Kara moves to face Lena, her hand moving slowly from her back to her arm, squeezing it gently to draw Lena's attention.

When their eyes meet, for the second time that night, Kara's heart skips a beat. The woman in front of her has green eyes, gorgeous green eyes. They're so deep Kara's afraid she's already drowning in them, but then she's hit by the realization they're full of tears that aren't even falling.

_“Miss Luthor, are you okay?”_ Kara's voice full of concern.

_“Lena”_ it's barely a whisper, Kara's attention is all on her, a puzzled look on her face.

_“My name is Lena"_ , she finally says.

Lena looks disoriented, she hasn't stopped  shaking for one second and her breathing is hitched, heavy, difficult. Her eyes are wide open but with a distant look, as if she's far away, lost in her own thoughts. She looks so scared and Kara feels something tightening in her chest, the sudden urge to take all that fear away from her, to relieve her somehow.

_“Okay, Lena. You're safe now. No one's gonna hurt you.”_ Kara's voice is so sweet, her blue eyes so kind and careful Lena thinks she's going to pass out right in front of her.

A few moments ago she thought she was going to die, and now she's on a rooftop. With Supergirl. Who carried her here bridal style and who's trying to calm her down, completely oblivious of the raging storm her beautiful gaze is causing inside her.

But Lena couldn't stop thinking about what happened earlier in the alley, the feeling of that touch spreading all over her body, making her feel dirty and angry. Her jaw clenches, her breaths becoming deeper and faster as a tear falls on her cheek, making her rage grow even more.

One tear. That's all that creepy bastard was going to get from her. She's lost in her thoughts, but her silent soliloquy is suddenly interrupted by Supergirl, her hands holding Lena's.

_“It's okay. We can stay here as long as you need, it's a quiet place. I always come here when I need some peace,”_ Kara says softly, without stopping, looking at Lena for one second. Lena nods quietly, still unable to speak because of the shock, but also because of the woman next to her.

-

They’ve been on that rooftop for a while now, completely silent, watching National City turning from the chaotic mess of lives it always was during the day to a much calmer place.

“Everything seems to go on at a different pace by night,” Kara says, asking herself if maybe she shouldn’t have said anything at all.

“Yeah, it’s been a while since the last time I enjoyed a view like this,” answers Lena, breathing deeply, slower than earlier. She’s feeling better now, the cool breeze allowing her nerves to calm down, and she really starts to enjoy the moment.

“Who are you?” asks Lena out of nowhere, and Kara senses what she’s really asking her.

“Well, that's literally the only thing people never ask me,” replies Kara with a small grin on her face, keeping her glance on the horizon.

A little laugh slips from Lena’s lips and immediately warms up Kara's heart, relieved to see the woman smiling genuinely after what she's been through that night. She really seems to feel a little better.

“Oh, believe me, your suit really does a pretty good job at that, but…” Lena starts fidgeting with her hands, looking suddenly nervous.

“But who are you, really?” she finally manages to ask.

“You mean when I'm not busy flying around in National City?” Kara turns her head to face her, her arms resting on the railing at the edge of the rooftop. Her blonde hair looks darker in the dim light of the night, her eyes a shade of blue Lena doesn't even know existed until now. She has this incredible smile on her face which Lena thinks could fix whatever is broken and corrupted in this world.

Supergirl or not, the woman who's standing beside her is something completely different from the people Lena's met in her whole life.

“Yeah, I mean, who are you? I’d like to know who I have to thank for saving my life tonight,” says Lena, taken aback from her contemplation.

“I’m right here, but there's no need to thank me. It's my job to keep the city safe,” Kara replies, and Lena finds herself a little disappointed by the answer.

“Well, of all the people who could have saved me tonight, a Super was the last I expected, honestly,” she says, unable to hold Supergirl's gaze.

“And why's that?” Kara asks curiously, because she's used to the great expectations. She knows people wait for her to come every time they’re in danger. They all lean on her because she's Supergirl, and whatever it is that needs to be fixed, she's the one who can.

“Because of who _I_ am,” Lena whispers, looking as far as she can.

Lena doesn't get it. She was a Luthor, CEO of L-Corp. Her whole life has been defined by her family name: she went to boarding school, she's always had special treatment and she's been nominated CEO at the age of 24 because, besides her two degrees, she's a Luthor. And being a Luthor has always meant to be evil, blinded by money and power and surprisingly not trust-worthy. Why would Supergirl save her?

“And who are you, exactly?” Kara's smile stuck on her face, lighting up her eyes in true curiosity, and making it incredibly difficult for Lena to breathe easily.

“I’m a Luthor,” she finally says after a moment.

Every second that passes with Supergirl remaining silent after that sentence increases the painful feeling in Lena's breaths. She's stopped a long time ago hoping someone could be smart enough to give her the benefit of the doubt. Lena knows better now that hope is just a waste of time with her. She's never had the chance to prove she was not like her family, no matter how hard she tried. So she’s just taken for granted that people would always judge her by her last name.

Kara's hand squeezes her forearm gently, locking her eyes on hers.

“You’re _Lena_ Luthor. People can tell you they know you because of your name, but it doesn't say who you really are.” Kara's voice is soft, calm. It reminds Lena of something she's never had, and it literally makes no sense but that's exactly how she feels right now. For the first time in ages she feels understood, and she can't explain herself how it's even possible that a Luthor and a Super get along this way, but she actually likes it.

“Do you really believe it?” Lena replies.

“Yeah, I actually do. I've been there too, I know what it means to…” Kara looks up at the stars, trying to find the right words to use. “…have a name that's like a burden … and wanting to just wipe it away,” she finishes.

“C’mon, you're Supergirl. Your name brings up faith, hope, loyalty. Mine brings up totally different things in people,” Lena says back instantly, a sarcastic smile on her lips.

“I’m not just talking about being Supergirl,” Kara says in a whisper, staring at the landscape again, and Lena can’t stop looking at her now. She seems so tired, taunted by something, lost in her own train of thoughts, and just…beautiful.

“It’s more complicated than that,” says Kara, shaking her head and lowering it down, closing her eyes.

And it really was complicated. She was one of the last Kryptonians. And she always carried her family name with pride and respect, defending it and her parents every time someone tried to accuse them of causing the death of their planet.

Now she wasn’t so proud anymore.

Kara’s thoughts are interrupted by Lena placing her hand on hers, making the two of them look into each other’s eyes again.

Kara feels a shiver running through her body at the delicate touch of their hands, incapable of saying anything that makes sense with this woman’s eyes on her.

“I know. Let’s just say we have more in common than expected,” Lena says smiling at her, hoping that somehow Supergirl understands she’s just trying to say she believes her, no explanations required. Kara smiles back, relieving some tension from her shoulders. And Lena has this strange feeling inside her that’s growing since they started talking, something she can’t name yet.

“Thank you,” whispers Kara.

“You’re welcome, Supergirl,” replies Lena, smiling back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to thank my beta @eunicom for being such a patient and kind human being, and @the-awkward-math-writer for her support. Last but not the least, thanks to all of you for being this cute! :3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go!  
> Just wanna thank all of you for your comments, you're always immensely cute <3 
> 
> I'm kinda busy with my next exam in these weeks so the next chapter could be uploaded a little bit later than usual. You can always hit me up on Tumblr! <3

CHAPTER 3 

It’s been one week since that night, and Lena couldn’t stop thinking about it. Being saved from a hell of a shitty situation, staying on that roof with Supergirl, it was all stuck in her head. 

The point was that even though Lena didn’t want to admit it, she started feeling different during the last week. Her routine was the same of course, but somehow, she wasn’t. 

After a first deny-the-obvious-crush-on-Supergirl phase, Lena gave up to the part of herself that was constantly thinking about the blonde superheroine. It doesn’t matter what she’s doing, Supergirl is always on her mind: the sense of protection of her arms, her smell, her golden hair, her beautiful blue eyes, her soft voice, the touch of her fingertips on Lena’s hand. 

After a week, Lena thinks she’s going mad. Her meetings were endless, and all she could think about was Supergirl. So at the end of another day she decides that’s enough. She can’t afford a distraction with her job, and she’s wasted enough time with this silly crush of hers. 

Whatever it is that she feels for Supergirl, it would be under control, effective immediately. 

\- 

That night Kara found out what it means to skip a meal, with the result that the morning after she was double-hungry, so she ended up eating twice her usual: a thirty-pancake tower and a couple of cupcakes. 

Her life proceeded normally, except for some strange episodes like flying by L-Corp whenever she had to be somewhere or spending her spare time searching Lena up on the net. 

That evening, Kara’s still at CatCo, working on her article and she’s already accepted the idea of working late. She has an almost entire article to write and she can’t focus. She just can’t. Her mind is somewhere else, wrapped around a pair of beautiful green eyes, brightened by red lips curved in a sarcastic, sexy, genuine smile. 

“Danvers, do you plan to finish your job and give me that damn article by the next fifty years or so?” Snapper yells at her from his office, his eyes never shifting from his laptop. 

Kara’s taken aback from her thoughts, but she couldn’t even remember his question, so she stays silent, looking in his direction with an embarrassed look on her face, like a teenage girl who’s been caught staring at her crush. 

“Let me know when you’re done stalking your new girlfriend at work and decide to actually do your job.” He got up from his chair and is now standing in front of Kara, clearly annoyed by her behavior. 

“I…ehm, she’s not…I’m not stalking anyone,” finally Kara manages to say, but with an unconvincing tone. 

“Yeah, whatever you say Danvers. I want that article ready for tomorrow,” he says. 

Kara nods and adjusts on her chair while he leaves, leaving Kara with a lot of work to do. But all Kara can think is what he said about the girlfriend thing. She smiles at the thought of Lena’s smile when that night she refused Kara’s offer to escort her back home, reassuring her about her ability to deal with stalkers who showed up occasionally at her door. 

_ She was so cutely stubborn.  _

Oh, boy. This is really, really bad. 

\- 

If Lena had known that her decision to walk to L-Corp that morning would have gotten her almost killed she’d definitely have gone there by car. 

That morning Lena woke up in a better mood than usual. She was sitting there on a stool in her kitchen, enjoying her coffee and checking her day’s schedule on her tablet, and her mood got even better at the realization her day wasn’t full of meetings. 

So when it’s time to leave, she tells her driver who’s already waiting for her in her car that she’s going to walk to work. He stares at her with a look of surprise on his face but doesn’t say anything, and Lena gets going. 

It’s a sunny day in National City and Lena, aware that her good mood is usually easy to change, decides for another cup of coffee at her favorite coffee shop, which is also on her way to L-Corp. The smell of good coffee hits her as soon as she’s inside, and she moves closer to the counter to order her usual. The waitress behind the counter recognizes her, because every time her day starts badly (and it happens more often than anyone could ever imagine) she comes here trying to cheer herself up with the best coffee you can find in National City. 

“Good morning Miss Luthor, what’re you having? Your usual?” the waitress smiles at her kindly. 

“Hi, Elise. You know, after years of friendship I’m pretty sure you’ve earned the right to call me Lena. And of course, the best usual you have,” Lena replies playfully, searching for her wallet in her purse. 

The waitress starts preparing her coffee, staring at Lena with an almost shocked expression on her face while Lena is smiling at the anticipation of her coffee. 

“I see what’s happening here…it’s one of those days, isn’t it?” the waitress asks playfully. 

Lena blushes and a small laugh escapes from her mouth, unable to say anything to hide the good mood she has. 

“Yeah, it’s not that big a deal. Tomorrow I’ll be as grumpy as always, don’t worry,” she replies after a few seconds and Elise hands her coffee to Lena, laughing at the sarcastic tone in Lena’s voice. 

“We’ll see, miss Luthor,” mocks Elise with a grin on her face. 

Lena rolls her eyes and shakes her head in disbelief, still laughing, trying to hand Elise the money to pay for her coffee, when the waitress gestures her to put it away. 

“Coffee’s on the house today, you know that. Now go enjoy one of your good-mood-days!” says Elise kindly. Lena smiles, nodding and putting her money back on her wallet. 

“Thanks, you’re the best”, says Lena, already heading outside with her coffee. 

“I know, I know. Bye, Lena!” replies Elise watching Lena leaving. 

Lena met Elise the first week she’s moved to National City. She was having a tough time with her new job at L-Corp, her life was literally a mess and she was, too. The first time they met had been one of the worst days Lena had ever had in her whole life. Her new assistant had screwed up her schedule, so she’d been late to all of her meetings, then her mother had called only to tell her how embarrassed she was to have her as her daughter. 

When Elise saw this woman sit at the counter of her bar, with this look full of sadness and tiredness on her face, she couldn’t resist the instinct to try make her feel a little better. They started talking, and Lena fell in love with the coffee she never stopped drinking ever since. That night she met the person closest to a friend she’s ever had. When it was the time for Lena to head home, Elise told her that there would be better days for her, even if she couldn’t believe it in that moment. And Lena laughed sarcastically at the thought of her having a good day. 

“We’re gonna make a deal: whenever you walk in here in a good mood, your coffee’s on me. Are you in?” said Elise. 

“If you’re right about my bright future you’ll end up blowing all your money, so what’s the point?” replied Lena, a bit confused. 

“The point is that there will be better days for you, you deserve it. You just have to give yourself the benefit of the doubt,” said Elise softly. 

“And if the chance to drink a free coffee makes you do that, then I’ll spend whatever money it takes,” she finished. 

Lena knew then that Elise was a rare example of a good human being. 

\- 

Kara wakes up at the sound of her phone ringing insistently. She sighs and sits on the bed, trying to find her phone with her eyes still half-closed. When she finds it, she reads Alex’s name on the screen and picks up. 

“This better be good Alex,” says Kara closing her eyes again. 

“You’re needed here at the DEO, now.” Kara can tell Alex is worried from her tone. She gets up from the bed while she’s still on the phone with her sister, the sleepiness drawn away from her body by the conversation she’s having. 

“Be there in five. Bye.” Kara hangs up the phone quickly and gets ready to go. 

She can’t explain how, but she’s grown up with Alex. She can tell better than anyone else when her sister is worried, and this time she was. That meant something’s wrong, because there are very few things that scare Agent Alex Danvers. She’s surely going to find out what this one is. 

When she arrives at the DEO, she finds Alex talking with J’onn, who has a worried look on his face too. When they notice she’s there, they turn to face her. Alex looks at J’onn first, who nods slightly in consent, then she looks at Kara again. 

“You’re not gonna like this,” she says, her hands resting on her hips. 

“What is it? You two are scaring the hell out of me guys,” Kara asks, laughing nervously. She hates not knowing what’s going on. Her brain is going crazy with all the possibilities. 

“There’s been some strange accidents in National City lately,” says Alex, looking straight into Kara’s eyes. 

“Strange accidents?” 

“I think it’s easier if we show you what we got,” says Alex, turning to face the screen behind her and giving her sister some context before showing her the video. 

“A guy has been robbed at the ATM on 5th, last night by a woman.” 

“What’s strange about that?” 

“Let’s watch the security footage, you’ll see yourself.” 

The video starts, and it shows a man while he’s typing his security code when a woman approaches him out of nowhere. The man sees her and he suddenly looks terrified, paralyzed by fear, so he obeys and gives her all his money. 

“Okay now, that’s strange,” Kara says confused. How did the woman succeed in scaring the man so much without actually handling a knife, a gun or anything else that could actually scare him? 

“According to our investigation, she’s been doing it for a while now, and she’s good at it,” Alex says. She looks down, and Kara knows there’s more. 

“It seems like she’s trying to catch someone's attention. The money has been found not far from the ATM, so that wasn’t the point of the whole attack,” Alex looks Kara in the eyes and Kara gets it. 

“She wanted to be noticed, that’s the only reason she did it. If it’s true that she’s so good at this, she couldn’t not know there was a security camera right there,” Kara says and the look on Alex’s face is now both concerned and proud. 

“There’s more you should know,” J’onn tells her. 

Kara looks at him with a puzzled look. 

“Last night, after this little show of hers, she went somewhere else. We have another footage that shows her in a parking lot where she killed a woman.” 

“She what?” Kara’s eyes widened in disbelief. “I want to see that.”

The second video shows a large parking lot. The same woman from the previous one standing still, looking at this other woman, who’s walking alone, probably heading home. Suddenly the woman falls on the ground, and when her stare meets the security camera her eyes are full of terror. She’s shaking, breathing deeply and she can barely move. In that moment, the other woman turns her head to face the camera too, an evil, sick smile on her face. 

A moment later, the woman passes out and the other one leaves. 

“That’s insane. How does she do it?” Kara asks, hoping for a rational explanation for what she’s just seen. 

“We believe this woman has some sort of psychic power which allows her to induce hallucinations,” Alex says. “And that’s how she kills people, by using their own fears.”

“This has to stop, I’m gonna find her.” Kara’s already leaving when she hears Alex yelling at her to wait. 

“We don’t know if she has an effect on you Kara. Be careful.” Alex’s voice is full of concern and Kara looks her in her eyes giving her a little smile. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll find her, and I’ll stop her before she hurts someone else.” 

“There’s another thing: she wants to be found, and I don’t know the reason. But if it’s not personal, maybe she wants to put on a show. And that means everyone’s in danger,” whispers Alex, putting her hands on Kara’s shoulders. “Go get that bitch, Supergirl.”

Kara nods, and flies away. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go!  
> This chapter is a bit longer than the previous ones, take it as a Christmas present <3

CHAPTER 4 

Lena’s walking by the street, asking herself how is it that the coffee tastes so incredibly good even after years, like it’s always the first time she tries it. 

This is going to be quite a day for her. No early appointments scheduled, no rush, and hopefully no troubles. Just a normal day at L-Corp, and a normal day is a thing Lena always finds herself so grateful for. 

Suddenly Lena hears a rumble from down the street. A few seconds later and everyone’s running and screaming in fear. Lena’s paralyzed for a second, her brain trying to figure out both what’s going on and what to do at the same time. Then her feet move without control through the crowd. 

People have clustered around two figures. One was struggling to get up from the violent impact while the other one was standing still, right in front of her, showing Lena her back. There’s no need for Lena to see her face though, she knows it’s Supergirl from an endless list of clues. 

Her posture is magnificent, proud, intimidating, and Lena feels a shiver run along her spine at the thought of how Supergirl’s blue eyes must look right now, in this moment. She can’t look anywhere else, so she stays there holding her breath at the sight of the woman who has saved her life. 

\- 

When Kara leaves the DEO she doesn’t really know how to find that strange woman, but she’s sure of one thing: she wants to be found, so the search shouldn’t take long. She’s flying around when she hears a voice. 

_ Hello, girl of steel.  _

Kara stops immediately to look around, still up in the air. It’s a woman’s voice, and every second that passes Kara’s much more certain it’s her. 

_ It’s actually you that should welcome me since I just got into your mind, don’t you think?  _

Kara hears the woman laughing sarcastically in her head and tries not to lose it, already annoyed by that sound. 

“Come out and fight instead of hiding like a coward, you psycho,” bites back Kara, hoping it’s enough of a provocation to make her enemy appear. 

_ Come down here and face me, Supergirl. I’m ready for you.  _

Apparently, it worked well. 

Kara flies down and lands on the street, looking around searching for the woman. 

“Never let your guard down, Supergirl!” the voice is the same as earlier, but this time Kara knows it’s not just in her head and it comes from behind her. She turns around to face her enemy, who’s running in her direction ready to punch her in the face. 

“Everybody stay away!” Kara screams, a moment before flashing in the woman’s direction, punching her and making her fall onto the ground with a rumble. 

Kara steps away never taking her eyes off the dangerous woman in front of her, her hands resting on her hips. The woman doesn’t get up, but Kara knows it can’t be that easy. 

There’s a strange silence around them. It’s deep, thick and it makes Kara’s heartbeat rise just a little while she stands there, waiting for the woman to get up. Kara’s suddenly hit by the realization that maybe she’s not going to get up and this possibility slightly freaks her out, because of course this woman killed an innocent person and terrorized people in the last month. But it’s also in Kara’s nature to desperately look for some humanity, some goodness in every creature she meets, and she doesn’t want her to die. Kara wants to understand, to tell her there’s not a good enough reason to do this, tell her there’s always a choice. 

She wants to rescue this woman. 

She’s taken aback from her thoughts with Alex’s voice in her left ear. 

_ Supergirl, what’s your plan?  _

Kara doesn’t have a real answer to that. She remains silent, trying to focus and find a way to check on her enemy without letting her guard down and expose herself to danger. She’s not fast enough because the woman is now getting up, laughing at her. 

Kara’s a little confused about the reason she’s laughing but tries to stay focused on her target. The woman has this smile, her eyes are dark, almost completely black, and Kara feels slightly pulled towards them, like a little magnet with an inevitable power over her. 

The two of them stay still, looking at each other, waiting for a move from the other. Finally, after a moment that felt like an age to Kara, the woman smirked at her and whispered, “Let’s have some fun.” 

In the blink of an eye everything goes to hell. 

Kara watches as the woman approaches a car down the street, trying to tear off one of the doors and hears Alex’s voice again. 

_ “Supergirl, are you going to do something about that?”  _ her tone is so annoyed it makes Kara’s heart sink, it leaves her with no words. 

_ “You’re always like this, you say you’ll take care of a problem, but you can never get it right on your own,”  _ her sister’s voice is firm, steady and angry now. She had never said things like these to her, and the pain and shock makes it impossible for Kara to move, to even think about doing something to figure out what the woman is doing with that car. 

_ “Your sister always has to come save the day, save your useless ass. You think you’re special, but the only thing I know about you is that you’re not able to do the right thing. You are the biggest disappointment of my whole life, Kara.”  _

Kara doesn’t realize she’s on her knees, crying and sobbing, until a tear falls on her hand, closed in a tight fist on the concrete. Actually, there are a lot of tears. The words Alex has just said to her are like a million knives and Kara feels all of them in her chest, in her throat and she can’t breathe, she can’t move. She just can’t face the fact of being such a disaster for one of the most important people in her life. 

She tries to get up, but she suddenly feels empty, tired, and so lonely. Like she’s the only one left on earth to cry, abandoned by every single person she thought cared about her, even loved her for who she is. 

Kara feels scared, a kind of fear that she never felt before. It was deep inside her, in the tiny little corner of her soul where no one’s ever looked, not even her, but there it was. 

She was a complete failure, as a superhero and as a human, as a reporter. As a sister. 

Kara can hear crashes and explosions around her, but it’s like she’s frozen, her mind incapable of processing anything else. She hears someone screaming and she manages to look up in front of her. 

The woman’s throwing everything she finds towards the people, just to scare them. 

“Look at your superhero, on her knees, crying like a baby while her city is going to die right here!” the woman’s voice rumbling in Kara’s ears like a distant echo. 

“Supergirl, help!” Kara hears a distinct scream through millions of different noises. 

Lena’s voice. 

\- 

Everything seems to go on in slow-motion for Lena. 

She’s in the same position she was a few minutes ago, when she froze in the middle of the sidewalk at the violent, loud sound of something -  _ someone  _ hitting the ground, except she has actually moved from where she was, to join the crowd around the area where a fight was about to start. 

Lena is standing still, in her black pencil skirt and white shirt, with her coffee still in her right hand, staring at Supergirl and trying to make some sense of this situation. 

The woman Supergirl has smacked down on the concrete is not giving any sign of getting up, and the silence surrounds and wraps around everything, filling the air like it’s something deep, thick, like a wall building up higher with every second that passes. 

She’s suddenly aware of her heart rate, and the sight of her usual clothes, her coffee in her hand like every morning. It makes it so absurd to have her heart beating  _ this fast  _ in her chest that for a moment she can almost  _ sense  _ her brain yelling at her  _ it’s okay, you’re just going to work, everything’s fine.  _ But then her gaze falls on Supergirl again and she notices the woman is now on her feet, staring at the hero in front of her. 

The woman’s eyes are focused on Supergirl, who’s incredibly tense and completely motionless, her arms at her sides and her muscles shaking, the tension visible on every inch of her body. 

She doesn’t really hear what the woman says. She’s too far away, but she sees her starting to move in a car’s direction, trying to pick up the door and throwing it at the crowd around her. 

People scream and run from where the door is thrown and the silence and quiet leaves room for chaos, the real storm. Everyone moves, runs, screams and Lena risks being crushed by the crowd, overwhelmed by panic. She tries to find a position from which she could keep an eye on the situation, so she moves a few meters away from where the crowd is flowing around. 

The moment she settles, there’s a question that hits Lena. What the hell is she doing here? Why isn’t she running away, calling Jess or someone to pick her up and bring her to somewhere safe? After all, she’s in danger. A real, tangible, risk-your-life danger. And Lena knows there’s probably a bunch of people who are looking for her at L-Corp and she could easily picture Jess in her mind, worried about her, but she can’t manage to make herself care, even if she can’t really say why. 

When the woman that some people around her call Psi turns her attention to the part of the crowd where she is, she sees Supergirl's on her knees. 

The feeling that runs through her spine is a mixture of panic, confusion and what Lena can only define as  _ concern _ . 

Psi is now looking through the crowd right at her for whatever reason, but Lena can’t look at anything but Supergirl. The girl of steel is on her knees, with her head down and Lena can’t see her face, but from the shaking of her whole body she’s almost sure she’s crying and that makes Lena's heartbeat go insanely fast. 

For a moment everything stops around Lena, as if her brain is taking time to adjust and bear with this whole new feeling that’s irradiating from her chest like a fire that’s impossible to contain. 

Supergirl is still there, apparently disconnected from the rest of the world. And that partially explains why Psi has managed to do whatever she wanted for ten minutes straight but it also brings up some questions for Lena. 

What’s happening to her? 

Why isn’t she moving? 

Is she  _ hurt _ ? 

There’s just one thing that Lena knows for sure. That night Supergirl had saved her and she didn’t have to do that. She just did it, because she’s good. She’s a hero. 

She’s National City’s hero and there’s no doubt Supergirl would do  _ anything  _ to save every single man or woman who’s now in terrible danger. 

She just couldn’t, it has to be like that. And the more Lena stares at Supergirl, the more she’s sure something’s wrong with her and that that something must be Psi's fault. Lena feels angry and powerless, suddenly scared but not for her own life. She’s scared for the hero bent in front of her, and the moment she realizes it, she wants to laugh at herself for being  _ worried about a superhero's life _ . But she’s seen something on that roof that night that has changed the way she looks at Supergirl. Something that was nothing like the strength, the stamina, the stubbornness that Supergirl usually shows when she fights; something so feeble and delicate that Lena’s sure it’s been revealed mistakenly and hidden for so long that it was hard for Lena to place until this moment. 

Supergirl was so  _ human _ . Even in her suit, with her muscles tense, her strength, her super speed and her incapability to bleed, she was human. Lena feels the sudden  _ need  _ to run to her and hold her close, help her, protect her somehow. 

She’s taking her first step towards the superhero, ignoring all the parts of her screaming that it’s not a good idea to put herself in danger for whatever reason. It is the one that’s pulling her closer and closer to the woman paralyzed on the ground in front of her, when Psi makes a concrete block rise up in the air and then throws it only a few meters next to Lena, making her almost fall. 

Everyone tries to run away from the spot where the block hit the ground, leaving the small area around it almost empty. Lena hears a scream, a voice begging for some help, but she can’t match the sound to a face until most of the crowd is gone around her. In that moment, she sees a man trapped with his leg under the block that must have fallen right on him. Her eyes widen thinking about how painful it has to be, but she loses no time and runs to him taking his hand instinctively to do the only thing she can manage to do - reassure him while he’s screaming in pain. 

“It’s gonna be okay, you’ll be fine,” she keeps saying to him, hoping it becomes a certainty the more she repeats it. 

“Don’t let me die, please, I don’t want to die.” His breath is fast, itchy and irregular. He’s squeezing Lena’s hand so hard that it’s almost unbearable, but she has to resist, she knows it. 

“You’re not gonna die. Not today, I promise,” Lena says trying to sound as convincing as she can, incapable to say if she’s succeeding or not. 

Somewhere near them Psi keeps spreading terror, laughing loudly and screaming things about Supergirl, who’s apparently still under Psi’s power. 

“Look at your superhero, on her knees, crying like a baby while her city is going to die right here!” Psi is screaming, and Lena can sense her coming closer and closer. And she knows she and her new friend don’t have much time. She tries to keep her panic under control, tries to think of something smart to do in a situation like this but she has nothing left in her brain except the image of this man and his leg, so she does the only thing her instinct can do, completely bypassing her brain. 

“Supergirl, help!” Lena screams, with all the energy she has in that moment. She’s crouched down and hidden behind the block that’s blocking her visual of Supergirl. But she has faith in Supergirl. She’s her only chance. So she keeps screaming, one, two, three times, hoping Supergirl can still hear her. 

Until she finally does. 

\- 

Lena knows that screaming for help would have had another collateral effect, so she’s not too shocked when Psi makes her appearance where Lena is now holding the man’s head with her own free hand, talking to him to distract him from his agony. 

“And there she is, Lena Luthor, in the flesh.” Psi starts laughing, a smirk on her face when she talks with her irreverent tone. “I didn’t know you have something of a hero in you. Lillian must be so proud of her little daughter,” the sarcasm spreading through the air and hitting Lena like a cold rush. 

Lena’s not new to this kind of trick. To be fair, she knows she’s grown up in the family that could have invented sarcasm. In her family, it was used to judge competitors and enemies. If your enemy doesn’t get your sarcasm, it’s not even worth your concern. Lena knows how this is supposed to go according to Psi, but she isn’t going to make it any easier for her to win. 

“And she doesn’t lose the occasion to let me know it in her own way. You know, there are parents that remind their daughter they’re proud of them,” Lena says keeping her head up, looking the other woman straight in the eyes with this confident and self-reliant stare that’s her signature when it came to work and important meetings. 

“…and then there’s my mother,” Lena adds finally, with a proud smirk on her face. 

Psi laughs bitterly, clapping at the joke Lena just made and returning a serious look suddenly. 

“Even if I enjoy your company much more than I would like to show Miss Luthor, we both know how it’s all going to end here,” the woman says, making a gesture with her right hand and lifting another bigger block just with the power of her mind, placing it about fifty meters above Lena’s head and keeping it right there, ready to be dropped. 

“I’m here to teach the Girl of Steel a lesson she won’t forget. She thinks she’s good and capable of doing the impossible, but she’s just a little girl who’s overestimated herself. And you’re the guinea pig I’m using to show her how good for nothing she is,” the longer Psi talks, the more her voice raises, filled with hate and resentment. 

“Nothing personal, now take your last breath, Miss Luthor,” Psi says, and with that she drops the block that starts falling on Lena. 

\- 

Kara hears Lena's voice in her ears and it’s like lightning in the middle of the night. She opens her eyes and her body flashes, guided by her own instinct, moving in the direction of Lena’s voice just in time to protect her from being killed. 

When Kara opens her eyes, they immediately meet Lena’s. And Kara can’t help but feeling exposed, so much that she suddenly looks at her suit, like she has to check she’s not wearing her usual reporter-clothes. She feels so, so stupid when she realizes what she just did, her focus returning to Lena’s face to check on her. 

“Ms. Luthor, are you ok?” asks Kara, incapable once more of reading the brunette’s expression in such a crazy moment. 

“I thought we both agreed my name is Lena,” answered the other woman with just a hint of sarcasm. The sharp laugh that followed was more a worry than a relief for Kara, sensing that something was wrong with Lena. 

“Sorry, Lena. Are you ok?” Kara asked again, hoping for a more reassuring answer this time. 

“Yeah, I’m ok. But he’s so not…” And with that, Lena turned to face the man she was trying to help, shifting her body enough so that Kara could see him too. 

Kara takes a look at him, but she can sense Psi staring at her, her anger irradiating from every single bone in her body. It was a matter of seconds before she shoots another attack, and Kara knows it will probably be addressed to the people that still wandered scared in the street. 

Lena included. 

Lena apparently had decided to put her fragile, human life in danger, making everything so much complicated for everyone. But mostly, for Kara. 

Kara knows she has no more time, so she takes her best shot. 

“Agent Danvers, can you hear me?” Kara asks, hoping her sister was still there. 

_ “Loud and clear, Supergirl. You alright?”  _ Alex replied through the earpiece, the concern throbbing from her voice. 

“I’m ok. I need you to come here as soon as you can and find Lena Luthor. She’s with a man who’s leg is injured pretty bad and she won’t leave his side. Meanwhile, I’ll keep our friend busy.” 

_ “Copy that. Be careful out there, Kara,” _ Alex calling her with her name makes Kara’s heart melt and sets it on fire at the same time, like alcohol on a wound. 

She has to tell Alex about what Psi did to her. But not now. Now she has a city to save, thousands of lives to protect. 

\- 

After the last thirty seconds, Lena had to acknowledge two important things. 

She really thought she was going to die. 

She wasn’t ready to die. 

When she opened her eyes, it took a couple seconds to realize she wasn’t dead thanks to Supergirl and her body, which Lena just discovered is a really good shield in case you are on the verge of being crushed between a huge concrete block and the ground. The same astonishingly attractive body that’s now pressed against hers. 

When just a few seconds later Lena’s eyes meet Supergirl’s, Lena feels like she’s having her second near-death experience in less than a minute. For a moment she can’t do anything else but wander in that blue deep ocean, so small and even so easy to get lost in. 

In that moment, the only reason why Lena manages to get what the superheroine is asking her is that her gaze has unwittingly shifted to stare intently at her lips. 

Lena feels a little disappointed as she hears Supergirl calling her Ms. Luthor, sensing a distance between them she thought they already had moved forward from. 

“I thought we both agreed my name is Lena,” says Lena, and she’s aware there was no chance for her to cut the sarcasm off more than she just did. 

“Sorry, Lena. Are you ok?” 

There’s this fraction of a second in which Lena’s name slips from Supergirl’s mouth in such a natural way that Lena can’t help but feel something. She hates it because it’s almost impossible to control, to name. 

Then a gentle squeeze of her hand takes her back, and the awareness of a man’s life slipping away from him hits her violently, reminding her the reason she screamed for Supergirl to reach her in the first place. 

“Yeah, I’m ok, but he’s so not…” answers Lena, shifting enough to let Supergirl see the man and assess the situation.

Lena stares again at the man she tried to help. She couldn’t help but feel useless. She knows she did everything she could, she knows that. She also knows that he’s now in good hands - Supergirl’s hands. And for that, he has Lena and no one else to thank, but still she wishes there’s more she can do. Lena turns her face slightly to her left, trying to read Supergirl’s expression and maybe elicit some sort of verdict on whether he’s gonna make it or not.

The superhero’s face changes right under Lena’s gaze. The jaw clenches, her brows furrowed in a focused look, an almost imperceptible asymmetry near the right corner of her mouth telling her that she’s biting on her lower lip right in that spot.

It looks to Lena like Supergirl is literally carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. Her entire body is on alert, every single muscle tense and in full display. So much that even with the extremely critical situation she’s now in, Lena can’t resist the urge to make her eyes run just for once, along the blonde’s body. She feels something crawling down her spine, a cold shiver that warms up as her eyes travel from Supergirl’s shoulder to her arms, her chest, her hips, her thighs, a shiver that’s now a flame, burning furiously in her belly.  

She’s taken aback from her contemplation when Supergirl, after a few seconds and a brief conversation with Agent Danvers, turns to face her. Lena’s sure everything in her face is screaming  _ you-could be-my-favorite-snack _ right now, and she hopes Supergirl is too focused on saving the whole city to notice.

“Agent Danvers knows your position and is coming to get both of you. I’m gonna deal with this psycho-killer and try to keep her away from here,” says Supergirl, explaining her plan in a firm and confident voice.

Then the superhero stands up, lingering for a moment that’s enough to give Lena the time to stand up too, facing the blonde and looking deeply in her eyes. For a moment that feels like an eternity, they just stare into each other’s eyes, until Supergirl reaches up to squeeze Lena’s arm gently.

In that moment, Lena notices a shift in Supergirl’s gaze. For a moment it’s not the powerful, determined look she was having until now, it’s something else entirely and Lena’s going crazy trying to understand what’s going on in Supergirl’s mind.

“Be safe, Lena,” she hears in a breathy, concerned, almost pleading tone.

There’s one last moment of staring at each other. When Lena blinks her eyes, she feels a gust of wind against her skin. And she’s left alone again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was chapter 4!  
> I really hope you liked it, as always you can find me and hit me up on Tumblr @ supercorp-will-rise. I don't know precisely when chapter 5 will be ready, but don't be afraid, I'm almost done with it!


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